In the electrical power distribution industry, as well as other industries, large equipment cabinets are provided containing electrical components that are electrically interconnected to other equipment in the cabinet. Some of these components, such as large circuit breakers, must be able to be temporarily disconnected and removed or simply disconnected and left in place. Such components are usually arranged on rails or slides within the equipment cabinet which permit the component to slide into the equipment cabinet along a mating axis for electrical mating and out of the equipment cabinet for removal. There is usually a primary connector and a secondary connector that must be mated. In the case of a circuit breaker, for example, the primary connector interconnects the power circuits while the secondary connector interconnects various test and control circuits. The secondary connector attached to and carried by the circuit breaker usually includes guide members, such as posts having tapered ends, that engage corresponding guide features associated with the mating connector, such as holes. In certain applications a conventional terminal strip is substituted for the secondary connector which is then interconnected to the cabinet circuitry by means of separate conductors having terminals attached to their ends. Therefore, the secondary circuits of the circuit breaker must be capable of being mated to either a mating connector or individual terminated conductors. This, of course, requires two different circuit breakers, one with a secondary connector and one with a terminal strip. Additionally, when mating with the mating connector, movement of the secondary connector along the mating axis corresponds to the movement of the circuit breaker, which is front to back as the circuit breaker is moved along its rails into the cabinet. This direction, however, is unsuitable for mating with the individual terminals, which must by mated manually with the circuit breaker partially in the cabinet. Ideally, the terminal strip should be accessible from the top or sides of the circuit breaker where operator visibility of the contacts is greatest.
What is needed is a secondary connector having electrical contacts that are able to mate both with the contacts of the mating connector as the circuit breaker is inserted into the cabinet and with the individual terminated conductors when the circuit breaker is partially inserted in the cabinet. Further, the secondary connector should be arranged so that mating of the individual terminated conductors is accomplished from the top or sides of the circuit breaker.